Rough Week Part 1

For a host of reasons, the past couple weeks have been a bit rough.  While I'm not going to get into everything that's taken place, there were two events worth mentioning here.  The first is a less than stellar appointment at the Dr's office a week ago.  The second is the reason that appointment was necessary in the first place; the beginning stages of the worst cold I've had in years.  The Dr visit and following may be a little more in-depth so I'll come back to that; plus at the moment the cold is front of mind seeing as how I'm still fighting it.

Boy, I miss dairy..

There are a variety of reasons one can get sick.  Sure, it generally comes down to some bug that's in the air or spread though direct contact but many are preventable if we work at keeping our immune system strong. One way to do that is through diet, exercise, and recovery (see how I brought that around?)  I managed to get two good lift days and a light cardio day in last week but the reality is my diet hasn't been as quality or as strict as it should be and adding in more weekly training days is past due.  It's true that I've taken steps to change; the addition of regular servings of greens and avocado as well as monitoring my evening snacks, but the reality is those were simply OK first steps and it's time to take the next.  What exactly that's going to be I'm unsure.  Clearly, insuring that I'm not consuming more calories than I'm expending is most important but I'm also at the point where my desire to understand not just how certain foods react when ingested, but how they react to MY specific body when ingested.  As an example; I can no longer consume much in the way of dairy without side effects so I've basically cut out milk and cheese all together.  I still have small amounts of butter but when it comes to other dairy I either don't touch it or on special occasions I do so with the acknowledgement there will be consequences (Sweet Frog can be sooo worth is, no lie).  What I'm thinking about doing now is trying to figure out and understand if there are other foods that affect me, positively or negatively, as clearly as dairy, that I've either never noticed or ignored.  How do I feel after eating red meat? How do I feel after eating chicken or fish?  Sweet potatoes vs regular potatoes?  Kale vs spinach? There may be no discernible difference between some or any of these without further testing but I'm not going to know until I try.  It will also have the added benefit of keeping the subject of nutrition interesting for me, something that's never happened.

Another addition I'm contemplating is intermittent fasting.  Now, it seems as though there is a lot of debate surrounding this particular subject (as there seems to be with most things nutrition and training) and I honestly do not know enough about the science to debate or even discuss the truths and falsehoods.  My consideration of the idea has absolutely nothing to do with fast weight loss or joining a fad. Instead, it comes from personal experience.  I have a tendency to skip meals throughout the day and then eat too much in the evening; unfortunately a not uncommon trait, especially among the overweight.  It's a trait I'm much more aware of now and as such, a situation I try to avoid.  However, I've also found that if I can fast for anything over 15 hours, I feel great.  I mean, I feel really, really great!  I've mentioned to my wife on numerous occasions how aware and full of energy I feel when I get into the late hours of fasting, whether done intentionally or not.  It's an idea that I plan to further research because clearly I don't wish to kill my training sessions before I even put my shoes on but it;s also something I believe could have benefits not just in the weight loss department but on other health factors as well.

Maine Sunshine feels wonderful but doesn't provide everything needed.

Together with monitoring and fasting, I'm also looking at specific foods I need to consume nutrient wise as well as additional supplementation.  Now, when it comes to supplements consideration of their name should be a good indicator that they're not made to sustain (though I don't think everyone understands that) but to, "supplement" ones diet.  Currently I take a multi because I don't consume all the vitamins and minerals I should in my diet and I take Vitamin D because I'm on the low side, which I was informed is not abnormal for people who live this far north due to the limited sun and sun strength.  I'm looking to add some additional supplements such as garlic for my immune system (I generally take it during cough and cold season and was NOT on it when I caught the current nastiness) and a probiotic because I'm pretty sure my gut bacteria is off. However, I have no plans to take anything without some indicator that there are benefits for doing so. Marketing hocus pocus, "testimonials" and branding are NOT going to work in this house because there's more than enough information available to make informed decisions.

So here are some examples of where and how I'm planning to further my diet and nutrition plans.  They may not be perfect but what's kind of exciting for me is the idea that I'm not just following a plan because I'm being told to but that I actually feel as though I'm gaining some understanding of what and how my body is reacting to and processing the food I feed it with.  For me that's an important part of not just being on a diet but of creating life changes.  And they're going to be needed sooner rather than later because after my visit with the doctor a week ago, it was made clear that consequences for not altering my life style are fast approaching.